Mesa resident Knox Stehlow was born at just 25 weeks. This premature birth resulted in various medical challenges, such as a respiratory and vision problems. Knox had to spend nearly six months in Phoenix Children’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
However, amongst all the medical treatment Knox received, there was one small act that made a world’s difference not only for Knox, but for his mother Kelli Stehlow and their whole family.
That small act that made a big impact was music therapy. A music therapist from Phoenix Children’s gave Knox’s parents a recorder that they used to record themselves singing and reading stories to him. These recordings not only comforted Knox when his parents couldn’t be by his side, but they also provided real health benefits to Knox, slowing down his breathing and producing additional oxygen that he badly needed.
This type of therapy is made possible through Phoenix Children’s Therapeutic Arts Program, an initiative that helps younger patients and families use music and art to navigate the emotional turmoil of hospitalization.
“Music is predictable. It syncs up everything within the body, as a form of entrainment. It syncs up your vital signs, and slow tempo decreases the heart rate.” Phoenix Children’s music therapist Julia Annabi said. “When the heart rate is decreasing, typically that increases the oxygen because they’re taking slower breaths, they’re relaxing, their body is calming down. So automatically that’s going to increase their oxygen.”
Stehlow said the ability to comfort Knox when she wasn’t around was invaluable. When she couldn’t be there to calm down Knox or put him at ease, the recordings could do the job in her stead.
“It made a huge difference for him in the fact that he had that comfort and they could use that to keep him safer,” Stehlow said. “You have a wiggling baby that’s being a little ornery, and you use a little voice box and they’re instantly calmer and safer. It makes life a lot easier for everybody.”
For Tim Harrison, vice president of corporate partnerships and special events at Phoenix Children’s, an added benefit of music therapy is that it allows premature children to be communicative or expressive with their parents through the strong emotional reaction created by Music.
“It’s so very personal, it allows the parents to feel a sense of their own self when they’re not there,” Harrison said. “It brings in a kind of emotive experience for their child and makes them hopefully calmer and lets them draw on the energy of the music.”
Knox is 2 years old now, and he is flourishing, in no small part thanks to the help from Phoenix Children’s. Perhaps that early exposure to music has imprinted itself on Knox in a way that will stick with him for the rest of his life.
“He’s hyper and very opinionated and still absolutely loves music. He has favorite songs and is always dancing in the car,” Stehlow said. “He wants us to turn the music up so he can move his hand around. He’s really defying all odds and coming up as a really impressive little boy.”
After graduating from Arizona State University's Cronkite School in spring 2022, Connor Van Ligten spent a little over year as a reporter for WWL-TV in New Orleans before finding themselves back in Phoenix in October of 2023. Now back in the Valley and writing for the Mesa Independent and the Daily Independent, Connor is ready to tell meaningful stories and report on important civic issues facing Mesa. Connor is a big fan of the 49ers, Warriors, pro wrestling, anime, dogs and fighting video games.
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